Despite significant improvement in women's living conditions since the Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995, the Chinese Government and NGOs are not resting on their laurels.
The government is focusing on implementing a national development program for women in rural areas, particularly in impoverished regions, said State Councillor Wu Yi yesterday.

Wu, who is in charge of the affairs of women and children in China, also said that monitoring and evaluation of the program would be strengthened. She made the remarks at a commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women yesterday in Beijing.

The program, which should be in place by the end of the year, is a more China-oriented version of the Platform for Action passed at the 1995 women's conference in Beijing. Officials have admitted that more efforts are needed to reach some of the platform's goals, such as the reduction of the mortality rate of pregnant women and women in labour.

A new development program for the next 10 years is being drafted, which "should better match the nation's conditions and be more conducive to the development of women," Wu said.

Peng Peiyun, president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), China's biggest women NGO, also stressed the importance of better educating and training Chinese women, which she described as "crucial in the protection of women's rights."

ACWF and its local branches, with the help of labour departments, plan to train 800,000 unemployed and laid-off women every year.